Tsumori's First Truth

The very first time Tsumori saw Hiroki, he was still half asleep. That combined with his previous gender assumptions made him think he was looking at a very irate woman standing there in the doorway of Nowaki's apartment. Like most of the hospital staff who knew Nowaki was in a relationship, he had assumed 'Hiro' was short for Hiroko. Tsumori could, of course, understand the reason why a woman would be flipping out, finding her boyfriend in bed with another man, even if they hadn't done anything.

He was reminded of this one night as he half dragged Nowaki home. Tsumori hadn't been over since Nowaki and Hiroki moved, and he had to say he was impressed just by the building.

"Thank you for bringing me home, senpai," Nowaki murmured as he searched in his pockets for the keys. "I didn't want to call Hiro-san. The last time I was this tired, he thought I had a cold and wouldn't let me out of bed."

Tsumori had a hard time imagining Nowaki's perpetually sour-faced lover playing nurse, making soup and measuring out cold medicine. He could see what Nowaki meant when he said Hiroki was cute, but the man was always frowning. Those brow wrinkles were probably permanent at that point. So Tsumori just smiled and stood by as Nowaki ambled around, trying to figure out what to do. By all means he should've gone to bed, but it was eleven at night and Hiroki was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's that man of yours?" Tsumori asked, a sly smile on his face. As if on cue, the door opened to Hiroki, looking confused about why it was unlocked. Nowaki had, after all, been scheduled to work until midnight. When he saw Tsumori standing there, he glared, and Tsumori shrunk back a bit, still smiling.

"Don't mind me, I'm just bringing the patient home," Tsumori said. When he said patient, Hiroki looked like he was panicking a bit.

"Is Nowaki sick?" he asked, looking around for the man.

Tsumori waved a hand. "Nah, just tired. Make sure he gets to bed." Hiroki looked like he was going to throw something extra heavy, so Tsumori picked up his bag, the smile never leaving his face. "Have a good night, Hiro-san!" And he was gone.

Of course, he stayed there at the door even after closing it.

"I'm fine, Hiro-san," Nowaki said after a bit.

"Just-just go to bed."

"But this is the first time we've seen each other in days."

"I'd rather you be working than home sick."

"But I'm not sick-"

"Whatever, just get changed. I'll make some tea if you're not going to sleep right away."

There was silence, and Tsumori thought that was that until he heard, "Nowaki, knock it off. You had to be dragged here, half asleep, an hour before your shift ended."

"I'm sorry, Hiro-san. It's just hard for me to keep my hands off you."

Even Tsumori had the decency to leave them alone after that. Not that he wouldn't tease Nowaki about it later.

Finally did something with Tsumori, after basically everyone asked for something. Ah well.